Mastercard, USAID to assist women-owned biz

 To begin with, as many as 3,000 such women are targeted to be enrolled under this project in certain places in Uttar Pradesh.

 Mastercard said that around the world, gender inequality limited women-owned businesses’ ability to launch, grow and thrive.

 To address these gaps, Mastercard and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have partnered under the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP) to launch Project Kirana, it added.

 “It is a really powerful initiative. It is the extension of what we are doing in many markets and we have committed in a large part of India. Globally, we have committed $250 million towards supporting SMEs (small and medium enterprises),” Porush Singh, division president (South Asia) of Mastercard, said while announcing the partnership at a virtual event on Thursday.

 He added that, “It is a large chunk...to help bring SMEs and empower women entrepreneurs for the next five years.” Recently, Mastercard announced a commitment of Rs 250 crore ($33 million) to help reboot Indian SMEs and enable business recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.